All,First of all, for those that don't know me, let me introduce myself since I haven't posted much over the past couple years. I'm Mark, the co-owner of Seahawks.NET and landlord of this fun little community. I'd like to give a welcome for all the newbies that have joined us, and a hearty "cheers" to my fellow veterans of the board that I haven't talked to in a while.

Now, onto the point of my post. As you know, we decided over a year ago to decommission the PWR (politics/war/religion) forum based upon some of the very negative effects it was having on certain posters, and the board itself. We understood this was a forum some enjoyed, but we made the decision based mostly on the fact that this is ultimately a sports/Seahawks forum, and those discussions could be had in millions of other places.

But recently, the topic of anthem protests have become front-and-center with Michael Bennett participating, and with his subsequent situation with Las Vegas Police. This has only become more pronounced in the past weekend with the team and the rest of the NFL growing the protests and statements as a result of President Trump's remarks.

As such, ownership and the staff have made a decision that in order to provide a place for our members to discuss these issues involving our team without it being in the main forum (dedicated to the football side of the team), we need to provide a new forum that can be used to discuss these and other major off-the-field Seahawks news and events. This new forum will show up in the forum list shortly just under the main forum.

I need to be VERY clear that this is an effort by our ownership & staff to provide a place where you can discuss these non-football topics, but there needs to be clear rules and an understanding by anyone wanting to participate in those rules. The following is a list of the rules anyone wanting access to that forum must agree to in order to take part and post:

1 - This new forum has the SAME rules and regulations as this forum, and will be moderated as such. That means all of the general rules will apply, especially the main "attack the post, not the poster" rule. If you're unfamiliar with these rules, please make sure to browse the FAQ forum and become acquainted with them. As with laws, ignorance is not a defense.

2 - This forum will not tolerate outright attacks on the players, teams, or coaching staff directly. There will be zero tolerance for verbal attacks against anyone associated with the team directly. You can state your opinions of their actions, stances, and statements, but do not attack the person.

3 - New topics will only be allowed if they are linked to a valid media story or source, and not just a tweet or rumor. For instance, the Bennett story about Vegas was widely reported by several media outlets and can be posted and discussed, but a new topic about a bible verse Russell Wilson tweeted is not considered newsworthy, and won't be approved as a news-related topic.

4 - You will need to request permission to join this forum. By joining this forum, you agree to follow all the rules of this forum and conduct yourselves appropriately. (See the posts below this message for how to request and gain access to the forum)

5 - Just like in the main forum, if a poster breaks any rules (most importantly being trolling or verbally attacking other posters or the team/players) they will be subject to removal from this new forum and their rights to post/view the forum removed. If the offense is egregious enough, a suspension or banning can also be utilized.

The idea is that your posts should represent your opinions on a subject represented in a respectful manner, and that includes respecting other's opinions that differ from yours. You don't have to agree, but you are required to treat every poster with respect. Period.

To be clear, this is a proof-of-concept at this time, and we reserve the right to revoke this forum completely at any time if people simply can't follow the rules and moderating becomes a constant battle. If you see someone breaking these rules, please use the report button and let the mods know.

We feel strongly that our community should take a cue from what the players are asking for, and provide a place for open discussion about these important topics. I again ask that you respect our home and partake in positive, but spirited debate about any of these topics together without letting it devolve into attacks.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to myself or our staff via PM if you have feedback or suggestions. Thanks for making this an incredible community, and GO HAWKS!!

Go to User Control PanelClick on UsergroupsSelect Seahawks Hot Topic AccessScroll down to the bottom of the page and select JoinClick on SubmitThen verify you approve of said action

Once one of us Mods checks the list of pending members and approve you, you will then have access.

This is definitely the fastest method available as it sends us an email letting us know whenever someone requests to join. If this isn't working for you, feel free to pm any of us and we can get you added. PM adds will probably be a lot slower but it'll get you there.

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”

The forum won't even allow me to view the new forum.Might someone help me access it?when you stop laughing, of course.

EDIT: I see no join button either.

Journalism is dead, it's been replaced by creative writing aka fake news.Critical thinking is pretty much dead too. I miss the hearsay rule. The concept of "ethic" has been stripped from the Journalism curriculum.